Sunday, January 31, 2010

Three reasons for gratitude

I've been VERY negligent in expressing gratitude for three very important blessings in my life, each of whom has had an important milestone in the last six weeks. I hope to repent in chronological order:

Our Caleb celebrated his 8th birthday on the 21st of December and was baptized and confirmed on the 2nd of January. As has been noted (much more promptly) by his mother, he is a very special boy and we are very blessed to have him in our family. We've only shared a small percentage of the stories that could be shared about Caleb. We have to be on our toes at all times with him. His latest passion is the presidents of the United States. Recently he was at a friend's house and was called to come home for dinner. A few minutes later he showed up at the door with our good bishop. It was evident that he was being quizzed about who the (pick a number) president was, when he served, who his VP was, etc. Caleb is one of the reasons (I'll deal with the other one in a minute) that we enjoy our sleep around here. Congrats to you, son, on a very exciting moment for you. Love, dad.

January 1st was of course Miss McKenzie's big 20th birthday. Can I really be old enough to have two twenty-something children? Guess so. The creeping gray hairs don't lie...McKenzie is certainly wise beyond her years and is such a "peaceful" child (something we appreciate around here. But as I said, I'll get to that child in just a moment.) Kenz has always been our old soul and keeper of traditions. She is the one we were most worried about telling that we finally got a "fake" Christmas tree this year...She seemed to be okay with it. Mostly. We often treat her like a third parent around here, perhaps more than we should. She is rock-solid in her faith and in understanding what really matters. She has also become our unpaid family dietitian. So glad that the Lord chose to send her our way. I love you, Rudy. Dad.

And last but certainly not least, our Miss Ellie celebrated her 5th birthday with a grand princess party, courtesy of her mom and older sister. Ellie is...well, Ellie! One of her current "habits" is making it from the bathroom back to her bedroom in three steps or less. This usually happens around 2am. We'll hear a sudden "boom" of her feet hitting the wood floor. She throws the bedroom door open, bounds into the bathroom to take care of business, and is literally back in bed with the door shut in under ten seconds. She calls her bad dreams "boy dreams." Keep thinking that way, Ellie. What a person you are. And yet so easy to love. Happy birthday, (not so) little one.

Just three more reasons to be so, so grateful.

4 comments:

  1. i love it. you have such a wonderfull family you are such a joy to be related to. congratulations to all.

    and do those creeping grey hairs itch while creeping?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sweet. What a mix you guys got. Lucky. Happy Day to All.

    ReplyDelete
  3. You have such a fantastic mix of of personalities and ages. haha! And a lot of them share a zodiac. :) Happy one year older, to them all. Thanks for sharing more inside stories about them all.

    ReplyDelete
  4. What a perfect tribute. You put it into words that I imagine but can rarely put on paper just the right way. Thank you again

    ReplyDelete